A method for developing regulatory gene set networks to characterize complex biological systems. (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Suphavilai, Chayaporn; Zhu, Liugen; Chen, Jake
• Is Part Of: BMC genomics. Volume 16:Number 11(2015)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 12
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Gene set networks -- gene regulation -- regulatory gene set networks -- pathway crosstalk; Genomes -- Periodicals; Gene mapping -- Periodicals; Genomics -- Periodicals; Base Sequence -- Periodicals; Chromosome Mapping -- Periodicals; Genetic Techniques -- Periodicals; Sequence Analysis, DNA -- Periodicals; 572.8605
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-16-S11-S4
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1471-2164

Abstract

Abstract Background Traditional approaches to studying molecular networks are based on linking genes or proteins. Higher-level networks linking gene sets or pathways have been proposed recently. Several types of gene set networks have been used to study complex molecular networks such as co-membership gene set networks (M-GSNs) and co-enrichment gene set networks (E-GSNs). Gene set networks are useful for studying biological mechanism of diseases and drug perturbations. Results In this study, we proposed a new approach for constructing directed, regulatory gene set networks (R-GSNs) to reveal novel relationships among gene sets or pathways. We collected several gene set collections and high-quality gene regulation data in order to construct R-GSNs in a comparative study with co-membership gene set networks (M-GSNs). We described a method for constructing both global and disease-specific R-GSNs and determining their significance. To demonstrate the potential applications to disease biology studies, we constructed and analysed an R-GSN specifically built for Alzheimer's disease. Conclusions R-GSNs can provide new biological insights complementary to those derived at the protein regulatory network level or M-GSNs. When integrated properly to functional genomics data, R-GSNs can help enable future research on systems biology and translational bioinformatics.